[Release date 27.06.17]

The cheque is in the mail, of course I love you, gosh you don’t look any different, that’s me done drinking and rock is dead all rank amongst some of the most oft-repeated bullshit lies of all time – especially the last one. We just live in a world where we’re awash with choice and have become complacent, fat, dumb and allegedly happy – when something doesn’t immediately appear at our demanding fingertips, we lose interest and declare it “dead”.

The fact is that most genres of music are now mature, meaning that unless you’re curious about how a cello sounds through a VOX AC30 with jazz scat/rap-infused vocals (that’s rhetorical, don’t be….), there are only a finite number of riffs and limited ways of putting notes and chord structures together to sound meaningful – and musos have been figuring those out for nigh on six decades now.

What’s my point? It’s all about the songs, stupid. Youtube will teach you anything you want to know about, except originality. Go into your local guitar shop – 10 year-olds can shred and reel off the top 100 riffs of all time.

Breathing life and vitality into guitar-driven rock with their latest album, “Flesh Blood And Bone”, South Wales’ Fireroad are right on the money, pulling some serious punches – no pun intended although the album is touchingly dedicated and packaged in homage to the “Merthyr Matchstick”, bantamweight boxer, Johnny Owen.

Personally, I’ve had a crumbled ten pound note in my sweaty little mitt waiting for this album since the excellent “I Got Sound” debut (which I still love – check out the title track and “Never Wrong”) and then the ‘Unplugged Live At The Borderline’ acoustic offering.

Right where the pen meets the fretboard, Fireroad again show incredible consistency in the straightforward and fresh force of their song-writing. Don’t get me wrong, the execution is all there from big, powerful vocals, ridiculously catchy hooks, well thought-out solos and proper tub-thumping drums but I refer to the above – even if you’ve got all gear in the van and the internet to show you how to plug it in, you still need to do something impressive with it.

Yeah, there are lots of influences (sixty years of rock/pop history won’t leave anyone untouched) but the quality of this band’s output is what makes them rocking champions rather than just mere contenders.

Authentic and honest, this is an instantly accessible rock album…if all albums were this good from start to finish, people wouldn’t snack on the odd downloaded track. This isn’t ringside, looking-in, pretender to the crown stuff – this is a very cool, jab to the jaw collection of classic rock – ten relentless rounds of gritty, driving power tunes. Suck it and see on “Minute”, “Your Summer Sun” and “Wine and Honey” but go the distance with this album (and “I Got Sound”).

Cracking stuff and a middle finger to the “rock-is-dead” naysayers. And with nearly all of the band called either Jones, Evans or Davies, this is the freshest rock I’ve heard come out of Wales since Budgie.  *****

Review by Mark “Mad Dog” Shaw

---

Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK

Since early 2020 Josh has been entertaining us with exclusive monthly live sessions, streamed via Facebook.

In 2023 he signed a recording deal with Sony in Canada and released a new single on 15 September.

Next session: Sunday 1 December

Check out videos here: https://www.facebook.com/getreadytorockradio

---

David Randall presents a weekly show on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio, Sundays at 22:00 GMT, repeated on Mondays and Fridays), when he invites listeners to ‘Assume The Position’. The show signposts forthcoming gigs and tours and latest additions at getreadytorock.com. First broadcast on 3 November 2024.

UK Blues Broadcaster of the Year (2020 and 2021 Finalist) Pete Feenstra presents his weekly Rock & Blues Show on Tuesday at 19:00 GMT as part of a five hour blues rock marathon “Tuesday is Bluesday at GRTR!”. The show is repeated on Wednesdays at 22:00, Fridays at 20:00). This show was first broadcast 29 October 2024.

How to Listen Live?

Click the programming image at the top of the page (top right of page if using desktop)

Listen via Windows Media Player. Click or tap here and “open file”
Listen via other media player (eg. VLC) Click or tap here and “open file”

Get Ready to ROCK! Radio is also in iTunes under Internet Radio/Classic Rock
Listen in via the Tunein app and search for “Get Ready to ROCK!” and save as favourite.

More information and links at our radio website where you can listen again to shows via the presenter pages: getreadytorockradio.com

---

Power Plays w/c 11 November 2024

ARCANE MOON Hello Sun (indie)
S8NT ELEKTRIC XTC (Long Branch Records)
ARCANA KINGS Here We Go (Curtain Call Records)
KLOGR face The Unknown (Zeta Factory)
BEYOND UNBROKEN Dance With The Dead (FiXT)
REVENGIN Decadent Feeling (Wormholedeath)

Featured Albums w/c 11 November 2024

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Singer Songwriter)

---

---

Popular (last 10 days)

---